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The ramifications of speaking out drew attention recently when a DOT employee, Mike Fayette, said he was forced to retire after talking to the media without prior approval from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration. His comments about DOT were positive.

An OCFS employee at a state juvenile prison, who would only speak anonymously, said he and his coworkers are afraid to speak out about their violent work conditions, a restriction he said makes them feel "defenseless" and makes it "more difficult to enact change in these facilities."

That's a common sentiment, said Stephen Madarasz, spokesman for CSEA, which represents about 60,000 state workers, including some types of OCFS staff.

"I think the State of New York would like to have a lot of their rank-and-file, CSEA-type employees believe they can never speak to the media under any circumstances, and that's simply not true," said Madarasz, though he acknowledged there are limitations.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1968, Pickering v. Board of Education, that those who speak as citizens on matters of "public concern" are protected by the First Amendment, but in a 2006 case, Garcetti v. Ceballos, the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision limited public employee speech about official duties. In that narrow decision, the court noted that situations vary and suggested that each requires its own close examination.

Beth Bourassa, an expert on labor and employment law, said when it comes to constitutional protections, "every case is very fact specific," and that other laws, like federal and New York state whistleblower statutes, may provide a "faster and surer level of protection than the First Amendment," particularly when an employee discloses information about something that "presents a danger to public health and safety" and has already tried to alert officials without relief.

CSEA's Madarasz said when it comes to "talking broadly about policies that are in the public interest, we certainly believe that employees do have the right to speak."

The benefits of an open dialogue were noted by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in one of many public employee First Amendment cases when she wrote "government employees are often in the best position to know what ails the agencies for which they work; public debate may gain much from their informed opinions."

Most state workers remain wary, however, and with good reason. "The reality on the ground is there may be some retaliation, and it can be done subtly in a way that's hard to prove," Madarasz said.

Most journalism inquiries begin with the same people that state workers must share their media encounters: press officers, whose main responsibility is fielding questions or requests for interviews or data. Most press officers at the top of the large state agencies make six figure salaries.

As media requests come in, a site called Newstracker is used by the government to keep tabs. In some cases, agency spokespeople believe they need approval to simply acknowledge an inquiry.